The Guest
by Rose Stetson
Summary: America Singer Schreave is enjoying her freedom as the retired Queen of Illea when a face from her past comes to surprise her.


I don't know what possessed me to pick up a novel and sit outside and soak up the Angeles sunshine. Maybe it was knowing that for the first time in twenty years, not all of the eyes were looking at me. For the first time in twenty years, I could breathe easy again.

Back in the shadows.

Maxon might be right that I would never really be able to slip out of the spotlight again, but boy, I loved how freeing it was to be able to slip out to the palace gardens in the middle of the day without worrying about reports or meetings or dignitaries.

That was Eadlyn's problem now.

I'd help her however and whenever I could, but it was beyond wonderful to have some sense of personal freedom again.

I saw a figure move out of the corner of my eye. I half-expected to see Josie or Kaden or Osten—especially Osten—wandering the gardens themselves. Maybe Marlee had come to talk to me about her upcoming trip to Honduragua to visit Kile. Maybe Lucy was looking for someone she could confide in about her and Aspen's futile attempts at becoming parents.

It still broke my heart that there was nothing I could do. I was a Schreave for heaven's sake. I had been Queen. There wasn't supposed to be anything I couldn't do.

The woman standing there in the gardens, just out of sight of the guards like she'd known their routines better than they did, was the last person I would have expected to see.

I blinked, and I almost expected her to disappear, but the denim jacket with its embroidered north stars stayed in my field of vision.

"Georgia," I breathed.

She offered me a short curtsy, just as she had before I knew her name. When I thought that her glimpse of me would precede my certain death.

I moved to stand, but she held up a hand, glancing around at the guards around the grounds. "I'm only here for a moment," she admitted when she felt she was safe. "I just couldn't stay away."

"You're welcome back in the palace," I said softly. "Maxon and I, we welcomed your family back."

Georgia offered me a pained smile. "After the way my son behaved, I'm not sure that's such a good idea."

As sick to my stomach as Marid's manipulation of my daughter made me, I had been sure even then that Georgia had not condoned his actions. Perhaps August had been involved, but I wasn't even certain of that.

"I never believed that you had anything to do with it," I admitted, wanting nothing more than to hurry to her, grasp her hands as I would have as a young woman, and assure her that she was still my friend.

"You are too kind, Your Majesty." She bowed her head in gratitude. "That's actually why I'm here. I want to apologize."

"First of all, I'm no longer the Queen. I'm now the Queen Mother, so you can dispense with the "Your Majesty." And secondly, you have nothing to apologize for." My tone was sharper than I'd intended, and a guard looked up. My heart stopped for a moment, and it seemed as if I was seventeen again and plotting a treasonous sale of guns at a palace function with the woman in front of me and the princess of Italy.

I smiled as if there was nothing worth looking at over here, and he quickly turned his attention back to where he was guarding.

I sighed in relief, my hand pressed against my chest as my heart resumed its regular beat.

"I should have realized that there's something in the Illéa line which makes its men fiercely protective of their title," she said softly. Her eyes dropped to the ground, and I wondered if the romance I'd been so sure of when I'd first met Georgia and August was as strong as the romance which had been the lifeline between my husband and me.

"Georgia, is everything okay?" I swallowed as I realized how vague the question was. "Between you and August, I mean. Is everything okay?"

She looked up into my eyes as if the question astounded her.

Shame colored my cheeks as I looked down at my hands. "I'm sorry. It's none of my business."

"No," Georgia interrupted, more to stop my self-doubt than to end my inquiry. "It's the sort of question a friend might ask, and I guess I'd always hoped but I'd never really guessed—"

I looked up hopefully.

Georgia hesitated before she continued. "I was impressed by Her Majesty's declaration that Illéa become a constitutional monarchy," she said softly. "As many arguments as Maxon and August had about how to take the country, I expected August to leap for joy at a Schreave giving voice to the people, a legal and consistent voice in their own governance."

To be honest, I had expected the same, despite Marid's attempt to supplant himself ever so carefully in the line of succession.

Eadlyn had never expressed the entirety of her suspicions when Marid's plan had come to light, but I knew that there were any number of household accidents which could have been staged to depose her from her throne. And if she had been foolish enough to give him regency, whether pressured or coerced in any way, there would be no way to have Kaden take his rightful place as the second heir to the throne.

Besides, I thought with a shudder, those same accidents could easily befall Kaden and Osten and even Maxon's sister, Brice.

"He didn't?" I suspected she had set it all up the way she had because August hadn't been pleased the way she would have expected him to be.

She shook his head. "He wasn't nearly as irate as Marid, but I guess that's when I realized how long August had been plotting with Marid to try to take control of the government again."

This was why any potential threat to the crown was killed. Maxon had tried to explain it to me over and over again, and I had kept whispering that there had to be another way.

I felt ice in my veins as I realized how close we had come to losing Eadlyn and likely the other members of our family at Marid's hand, in one way or another. It was likely that the only truly safe member of the Schreave family was my son, Ahren, as he was no longer eligible for the crown. Even Maxon and I, who no longer had any claim to throne ourselves, could be a threat since we were still technically able to have children if we so chose.

Not that I didn't feel that ship had sailed after my heart attack. Nor did I feel that our family was any less than perfectly complete the way it was except for the marriages which would bring in-laws and grandchildren into the mix in the coming years.

"I'm sorry, America," Georgia whispered. "For too long, I thought it was just venting. You know, if I were king I would do this. If I were king, I would do that." She sighed. "I figured everyone has moments like that. I didn't realize that it had started to crystallize into an actual viable attempt to overthrow your family."

I thought immediately of Maxon's parents. Had Amberly ever had this conversation with anyone? What would I have done if she had ever come to me in some alternate series of events and apologized for not seeing how Clarkson had abused his son and tried to abuse me?

I never admitted to Maxon how often since we'd become parents that I had envisioned this conversation and wondered how Amberly could have allowed her love to blind her to the actions of her husband. How could one be so oblivious to the physical suffering of one's own child? Especially when it had come at your own husband's hand?

But then, he had been a clever and calculating man, and she had been so very in love with him.

"We all have blind spots when it comes to the people we love," I whispered as I looked back at Georgia, the pain of her own ache written on her face. "Whatever part you think you played in this, I forgive you whole-heartedly."

Tears pricked my eyes, and I saw from her quick wipe at her lashes that tears had pricked hers as well.

"I need to go, but I hope you know you'll always have my support," Georgia said as she offered me a quick curtsy.

"America!"

Maxon's voice echoing in the gardens stole my attention for a moment. I smiled over at him, and he returned my smile with a little wave.

I turned back to say goodbye to my friend, but she was already gone.

My heart ached as I realized she had left. I knew I wouldn't likely see her again, and it broke my heart.

"Enjoying the sunshine?" Maxon asked as he approached my bench. He leaned down to kiss my lips, and I offered them to him though my thoughts turned back to Georgia.

"Mm-hm," I murmured against his lips.

"What are you reading?" he asked, settling down beside me.

I'd completely forgotten that I'd brought a book with me to the gardens. "Uh, nothing, actually," I said as I turned the book over in my hands. "I got distracted."

"Anything fun?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at me as if he was looking forward to my telling him some fantasy which had distracted me from my book. Some fantasy which he could whisk me off to our bedroom to play out.

I laughed. "I think you might have too much time on your hands, Your Majesty."

"Ack!" he cried, covering his ears with his hands. "I'm retired!"

I couldn't help but grin. "Okay, Your Royal Husbandness."

Maxon dropped his hands with a playful sniff into the air. "That's more like it."

"What did you have in mind?" I asked, knowing that Maxon had come to find me for a purpose of some kind.

"Let's go see a movie, America."

"A movie?" I asked as I raised my eyebrows high up toward my hairline. That hadn't been one of our go-to dates even as a married couple. No, he'd spent more time with Marlee in the movie theater during the Selection than with me.

"My biggest fantasy is actually getting a chance to spend my birthday in bed with you," he said with a suggestive wink.

I laughed, remembering how many birthdays he had tried to do just that.

"But my second biggest fantasy is watching a movie in the middle of the workday," he sighed in deep contentment. "Without interruptions."

"Maxon Schreave," I murmured as I leaned in toward him and ran my fingers through his hair.

"Hm?" I could hear that he was half-dazed with our closeness, and it thrilled me that even after all this time, I could still stun him senseless with my proximity.

I thought of all the times that we had attempted to make time for one another, whether out in the garden or on an actual date. How many times had we been interrupted by an urgent phone call or an unexpected visit from a diplomat? I didn't care what we did at this point. My favorite part of his idea was that we might be uninterrupted.

"That sounds incredible," I sighed as I leaned in and kissed him.

His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer. "Maybe when we get inside, you can tell me more about what Georgia had to say," he murmured as he leaned his cheek against mine.

"You—you knew?"

He pulled back and offered me a slight nod. "I thought I saw her as I called your name. Then, you looked back to where I thought I'd seen her after I called you."

I nodded. "I wasn't trying to hide it."

"I know," he said with a shake of his head as he pulled me to my feet alongside him. "I might have had a few words for August if he was here, but I know you and Georgia have always been close." He cast a sidelong glance in my direction. "Anything I should know?"

"Only that she wanted to apologize," I said as I offered him a small smile.

He nodded. "I didn't think she was behind Marid."

"She wasn't," I confirmed.

He took my hand in his, bringing it up to his lips for a kiss. "I'm glad you got to see her again."

"I'm glad you're retired," I said with a teasing smile.

He quirked an eyebrow in my direction as if he needed an explanation.

I grinned. "Next birthday, I don't intend to let you out of my bed for anything."

My sweet husband, former King of Illéa, just threw back his head and laughed.


End file.
